The Black Panthers: Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution

by Bryan Shih, Yohuru Williams, Peniel E. Joseph (Introduction)

Overview

"Brilliant, painful, enlightening, tearful, tragic, sad, and funny, this photo-essay book is at its core about healing, and about the social justice work that still needs to be done in the era of hip-hop, Black Lives Matter, and the historic presidency of Barack Obama." — Kevin Powell, author of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood

"A brilliantly conceived volume. Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams demonstrate why the Panthers' story-its lessons and failures-even fifty years after its founding remains key to understanding national and international struggles for freedom and justice today." — Cheryl Finley, professor and director of visual studies, Cornell University

Even fifty years after it was founded, the Black Panther Party remains one of the most misunderstood political organizations of the twentieth century. But beyond the labels of "extremist" and "violent" that have marked the party, and beyond charismatic leaders like Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver, were the ordinary men and women who made up the Panther rank and file.

In The Black Panthers, photojournalist Bryan Shih and historian Yohuru Williams offer a reappraisal of the party's history and legacy. Through stunning portraits and interviews with surviving Panthers, as well as illuminating essays by leading scholars, The Black Panthers reveals party members' grit and battle scars-and the undying love for the people that kept them going.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568585550
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	09/13/2016
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	687,528
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Bryan Shih is a photojournalist based in New York. A former contributor to the Financial Times and National Public Radio in Japan, he is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a former Fulbright scholar. His work on the Panthers has garnered him one of the highest rankings among entries in the LensCulture 2015 Portrait Awards competition, and has led to his selection for the New York Times inaugural portfolio review.

Yohuru Williams is Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author and or editor of several books on the Black Panther party, including Rethinking the Black Freedom Movement (Routledge, 2015);  Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006), In Search of the Black Panther Party, New Perspectives on a Revolutionary Movement (Duke, 2006), and Liberated Territory: Toward a Local History of the Black Panther Party (Duke, 2008). He has appeared on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Aljazeera America, BET, CSPAN, EBRU Today, Fox Business News, Fresh Outlook, Huff Post Live, and NPR, and is a regular contributor to The Progressive.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction: The Black Panthers and Black Power Peniel E. Joseph 1

Chapter 1 In Defense of Self-Defense: Pathways to the BPP 9

Claudia Chesson-Williams 10

Cyril "Bullwhip" Innis Jr 15

J. Yasmeen Sutton 18

Anatomy of a Setup No. 1, as told separately by Cyril "Bullwhip" Innis Jr. J. Yasmeen Sutton Claudia Chesson-Williams 21

Katherine Campbell 24

Mike Tagawa 28

William "BJ" Johnson 33

Nana Ohema Akua Anum Njinga Onyame Nyamekye (formerly Patti Byrd) 38

Madalynn "Carol" Rucker 41

To Live for the People: The Rank and File and the "Histories" of the Black Panther Party Yohuru Williams 46

Chapter 2 The People Are My Strength: Coalition Building in the BPP 57

Atno Smith 58

Charlotte "Mama C." O'Neal 61

Robert H. King 65

B. Kwaku Duren 68

Ronald "Elder" Freeman 72

The Black Panther Party and the Rise of Radical Ethnic Nationalism Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar 75

The Global Panthers Nico Slate 79

Chapter 3 A Sister's Place in the Revolution: Women in Leadership in the BPP 83

Ericka Huggins 84

Norma (Armour) Mtume 88

Phyllis Jackson 92

Elaine Brown 97

Revolution, Struggle, and Resilience: Women in the Black Panther Party Rhonda Y. Williams 102

Chapter 4 Block by Block, Do or-to-Door: Building Community Support by Serving the People 111

Billy X Jenuings 112

Steve Long 117

Esutosin Omowale Osunkoya 121

Margo Rose-Brunson 126

Patrice Sims 130

Emory Douglas 133

M. Gayle Dickson (aka Asali) 138

Christine Choy 142

Nelson Malloy 146

Richard Brown 151

Hazel Mack 156

Saturu Ned 160

Brother Sadiki Shep 164

Larry Little 168

The Black Panther Rank and File Jama Lazerow 173

On the Black Panther Party's Health Activism Alondra Nelson 176

Chapter 5 The Single Greatest Threat: The Covert War Against the BPP 179

Melvin Dickson 181

Anatomy of a Setup No. 2, as told by Melvin Dickson 183

Jamal Joseph 185

Steve McCutchen 189

Ajamu Strivers 193

Marion Brown 199

Clarence Peterson 203

Stephen Edwards 207

Brian Hunter 212

Malik Rahim 215

Abdullah Majid 219

Cisco Torres 222

Jalil Muntaqim 226

Herman A. Bell 229

Thomas McCreary 233

Conclusion 239

Editor's Note: Sojourn with the Panthers 243

Appendix 248

Credits 259

Notes 260

Index 264

Editorial Reviews

…The Black Panthers: Portraits From an Unfinished Revolution succeeds by destroying any assumptions you may have had. The book tells the story of the Black Panthers through first-person accounts from people who were part of the movement but who mostly were not the stars—people who look like they could be my aunts and uncles. Our culture has focused so much attention on the most visible members of the Black Panthers that it has been easy to forget it was a nationwide organization—an entity that needed to attract ordinary people who believed in something and were also willing to work for it.

The New York Times Book Review - Rembert Browne

07/18/2016
With a splendid assemblage of pictures and interviews, photographer Shih and historian Williams shine fresh light on the people in and the diverse activities of the Black Panther Party (BPP) on the 50th anniversary of its founding. Shih’s photographs of the 45 interviewees have the vibrancy and immediacy of treasured family portraits. The interviewees’ compelling recollections are buttressed by succinct but substantive essays from other contributors, including Alondra Nelson and Rhonda Y. Williams. Though iconic figures (Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale) haunt the book, the voices here are those of little-known grassroots members. Five broad themes organize the work: BPP history from its California roots to its spread through American cities; BPP’s impact on other movements throughout the world and in the U.S.; the role of women in the group; BPP’s free community services, such as neighborhood health clinics and give-away breakfasts; and Cointelpro, the FBI’s secret campaign against the BPP and other radical organizations. Appendices include the “Panther Ten-Point Platform and Program” and a dismaying selection of Cointelpro documents. The special virtue of this book is as bottom-up, rather than top-down, history—an illuminating view of the everyday aspects of “one of the most misunderstood organizations of the 20th century.” (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"The Black Panthers succeeds by destroying any assumptions you may have had [about the Black Panther Party]. The book tells the story of the Black Panthers through first-person accounts from people who were part of the movement but who mostly were not the stars-people who look like they could be my aunts and uncles...[It] does the much needed task of bringing the movement down to earth."
—Rembert Browne, New York Times Book Review

"Shih's powerful black-and-white portraits...are by turn-and sometimes all at once-bold, unflinching, poetic, familiar, cloaked, direct, joyful, defiant, mischievous and suspicious....To many readers, these stories of nascent revolution and service will be enlightening, even eye-opening, giving a new view of an organization that was vilified, feared and opposed in history and the press. For others, they are a reminder of a time when black organizers and other people of color declared an unstinting willingness to improve their communities and radically change the trajectory of their people's lives."
—Tina McElroy Ansa, Washington Post

"While no doubt rooted in the past, Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution focuses squarely on the present, with portraits and interviews with former members today. While the authors did an excellent job of tracking down higher-ups in the party, the book smartly turns its focus to the 'real heroes,' the group's rank-and-file members, giving us a fuller picture of life as a Black Panther, and the impact those years had on people's lives... A well-rounded primer on the Black Panther Party, then and now, top to bottom."—Mother Jones

"A brilliantly conceived volume that offers a refreshing take on a well-trod history too often told from the perspective of its Oakland-based, male leaders and their iconic images. Uniquely, this powerful book is driven by Bryan Shih's recent portraits of local chapter rank-and-file members, whose gripping recollections told in oral histories illuminate the complexity and importance of the BPP's grassroots organizing structure in history and for our own times. This innovative volume boasts a remarkable series of essays by leading scholars on a range of topics including Black Power, women, the rank-and-file, ethnic nationalism, health activism and international outreach as well as a treasure trove of archival images from the Black Panther Newspaper. Together, Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams demonstrate why the Panthers story-its lessons and failures-even fifty years after its founding, remains key to understanding national and international struggles for freedom and justice today."
—Cheryl Finley, Associate Professor and Director of Visual Studies, Cornell University

"An hypnotic reflection pool on the movement, the mythologies, and the women and men who challenged oppression as no other organization made in America ever had before. Brilliant, painful, enlightening, tearful, tragic, sad, and funny, this photo-essay book is at its core about healing, and about the social justice work that still needs to be done in the era of hip-hop, Black Lives Matter, and the historic presidency of Barack Obama."—Kevin Powell, author of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood

"During our moment of Black Lives Matter on the one hand and Trump-enabled open racism and hatred on the other, connecting to the stories of a previous generation of activists feels vital, and in these portraits, quite stunning."—Flavorwire

"An eye-opening experience...Reading The Black Panthers has changed a lot for me. The photos, the essays, the information found in this volume have now made my education on the Party paramount. Their movement will now be part of my activism, their fight, which sadly still rages on, is my fight."—Dan Arel, Patheos

"Fifty years [since the party's founding], photojournalist Shih and historian Williams observe that the party remains 'one of the most misunderstood organizations of the twentieth century.' To dispel this fog, they met with 45 surviving rank-and-file members, men and women who went on to become teachers, professors, attorneys, elected officials, founders and directors of not-for-profit organizations, and artists. Each is present here in striking photographic portraits and revelatory oral histories...Incisive essays provide a larger historical context."
—Booklist, Starred Review

"With a splendid assemblage of pictures and interviews, photographer Shih and historian Williams shine fresh light on the people in and the diverse activities of the Black Panther Party (BPP) on the 50th anniversary of its founding. Shih's photographs of the 45 interviewees have the vibrancy and immediacy of treasured family portraits. The interviewees' compelling recollections are buttressed by succinct but substantive essays...The special virtue of this book is as bottom-up, rather than top-down, history-an illuminating view of the everyday aspects of 'one of the most misunderstood organizations of the 20th century.'"—Publishers Weekly, "Most Anticipated Books for Fall 2016"

"This highly recommended compilation of interviews and photographs of the Black Panther Party helps reframe its legacy to include the humanitarian work they performed across the United States. Readers interested in the current Black Lives Matter movement will find resonance in the Panthers' stories."—Library Journal

"An intelligent, unapologetic book."—Shelf Awareness

"An interesting celebration of a unique era's activism."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

07/01/2016
While most histories of the Black Panther Party (founded in 1966) focus on leaders such as Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver; the tragic deaths of Bobby Hutton and Fred Hampton; and the counterintelligence programs the FBI ran to destabilize the organization, this collection uses interviews with rank-and-file party members to reflect what happened on a daily basis. Instead of depicting the armed inner-city soldiers commonly portrayed in the media, photojournalist Shih and historian Williams (history, Fairfield Univ.; Black Politics/White Power) focus on how the Panthers created health clinics, offered free breakfast for childrens' programs, and provided transportation for family and friends of inmates, among other civic actions. The book also covers the important role women played in the organization. Included are portraits of surviving members and short essays from leading scholars that give context to the interviews. VERDICT This highly recommended compilation of interviews and photographs of the Black Panther Party helps reframe its legacy to include the humanitarian work they performed across the United States. Readers interested in the current Black Lives Matter movement will find resonance in the Panthers' stories.—John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll., Boston

Library Journal

2016-07-05
An anthology commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Black Panthers focusing on the ordinary lives of its members.The Panthers’ fungible reputation still affects American race relations. Co-editors Shih, a photojournalist and former contributor to the Financial Times, and Williams (Dean, Arts and Sciences/Fairfield Univ.; Teaching U.S. History: Beyond the Textbook, 2008, etc.) note their project was inspired by Shih’s portraits of Panther members, which “demystify the group and present its former members as they are today.” They divide the book into five sections to examine members’ routes into the group, its strengths in coalition building and community action, and the violent counter-reaction by the government. These are developed into a fuller narrative via several essays by other scholars such as Peniel E. Joseph, who connects the Panthers’ famous leadership to the outlook of their lesser-known followers: “Like many young black men of their generation…[Huey] Newton and [Bobby] Seale chafed against institutional racism, inadequate education, and police brutality.” Many interviews capture a similar sense of youthful outrage; as a Japanese-American Panther notes, “we weren’t any different in the way the larger society was treating us.” Some contributors address the slippery nature of the Panthers’ story, which tends to simplify their radical politics and sensationalize leaders’ demands for armed self-defense. As Jama Lazerow explains, “a series of problems frustrates any attempt to accurately characterize the rank and file of the Black Panther Party.” Interviewees acknowledge less romantic aspects of the movement, such as its eventual violent fracturing, which they insist was fomented by the FBI. Such flaws are contrasted with overlooked initiatives such as food pantries and medical care; as Alondra Nelson argues, they “placed these matters in the context of their broader political strategy.” The surviving radicals regard their Panther years as formative; many went on to careers in social services or even government. An interesting celebration of a unique era’s activism, with greatest appeal to progressive readers.

Kirkus Reviews